Chef and Menu Report: Week of 8/24/14

Every week, we take a look at some new chefs and menus that have been announced across the country

Credit: facebook/ Todd-English-Food-Hall

Todd English

Rensselaerville, N.Y. The brainchild of James Beard Award-winning author and longtime New York Times writer Molly O’Neill, the LongHouse Food Revival (September 13 through 14) is a weekend symposium designed to raise the bar for the way food stories are told. The weekend starts with presentations from a number of remarkable presenters including Kat Kinsman (CNN's Eatocracy), Kim Severson (The New York Times), and Amy Thielen (author of The New Midwestern Table and host of Heartland Table on the Food Network), among others. Saturday night is the Live Fire Feast, in which chefs Alex Young and Carlos Gaytan will face off in the Live Fire Cooking Arena, creating dishes for the theme, “Oink Vs. Moo.” Chef Edward Lee will be serving at least an acre's worth of handcrafted preserved and ash-cooked vegetables. On Sunday, a firehouse-style breakfast kicks off a day of exhibitions and panel discussions, and a formal olive oil tasting rounds off the weekend's festivities.

Blue Ribbon Restaurants and the Blue Ribbon Bakery Kitchen will offer a special High Holidays menu for Rosh Hashanah, available on September 24 and 25. The full menu includes dishes such as smoked fish consommé with whitefish matzoh balls, braised brisket with pickled raisins, and challah doughnuts with honey-chocolate sauce.

The Todd English Food Hall at The Plaza hotel is launching new food and beverage menus in honor of the eatery’s fourth anniversary. Chef English expanded the menu to include new shareable plates, salads, and pasta options, such as Peking duck buns, lobster guacamole, Burrata and country ham salad, a kimchi Reuben, and much more. The food hall also offers take-away options, a slew of retail items, and gift baskets.

OrlandoNorman’s at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes will host a tribute to Charlie Trotter on Saturday, December 13. The evening will feature hors d’oeuvres by renowned local chefs, culinary stations from chef Norman and his team, and sommeliers will be pairing wines accordingly. The chefs in attendance will be Norman Van Aken of Norman’s at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes; James and Julie Petrakis of The Ravenous Pig and Cask & Larder; Hari Pulapaka of Cress Restaurant; Greg Baker of The Refinery; Scott Hunnel of Victoria & Albert’s; Brandon McGlamery of Luma on Park and Prato; Timothy Keating, of Flying Fish Café; Greg Richie of Cityfish Restaurant; Ryan Vargas of Tchoup Chop; and John Rivers of 4 Rivers and The Coop.

The event will also feature a silent auction to benefit The Trotter Project, an alumni-driven initiative whose mission is to celebrate the lasting legacy of chef Charlie Trotter through culinary and educational programs, services, and events that foster professional and personal excellence, and create a sense of community among individuals dedicated to these principals.

Miami On Wednesday, September 3, The Dutch in Miami Beach will host a four-course wine pairing dinner with wines curated and presented by Krug, world-renowned Champagne house and winery. The evening will feature a menu created by chef de cuisine Conor Hanlon, paired alongside some of France’s most acclaimed wines. Some of the dishes served will be oysters three ways — raw Kushi in the half shell with oyster velouté, warm roasted Rockefeller, and crispy fried Blue Point on a deviled egg — and stracciatella di buratta with grilled Georgia peaches, toasted pecans, and arugula. The events begins at 8 p.m. and reservations are required.

Former Top Chef Masters contestant Herb Wilson joins the Menin Hospitality Team as the executive chef of Red Ginger, set to launch in early Winter 2014. A New York City native, chef Wilson has an international culinary background mastering French, Asian, and Caribbean cooking. He is the only chef to have received a two-star review from the New York Times on three separate occasions by three different reviewers at three different restaurants. Wilson describes the cuisine at Red Ginger as Japanese and Thai-inspired, featuring a sushi bar with an omakase elements and binchotan charcoal robata offerings. The menu will also showcase locally sourced items as well as ingredients flown in directly from Japan.

San Diego As part of the Relais & Châteaux 60th Anniversary, Dinners in North America, guest chefs William Bradley of Addison at The Grand Del Mar and Claude Bosi of two-Michelin-starred Hibiscus in London will prepare an elegant eight-course tasting menu dinner on Saturday, October 11, at Addison. Lyon-born chef Bosi became a Relais & Châteaux Grand Chef in 2012, while Southern California native chef Bradley became a Relais & Châteaux Grand Chef in 2010, and won the 2014 Robb Report Culinary Masters Competition and helms the only Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond restaurant in San Diego.

PortlandBluehour, located in the heart of the Pearl District , has named Kyo Koo as executive chef. A native Oregonian, Koo took the boldest step in his career and moved to Spain to work for chef Andoni Aduriz at the internationally regarded Mugaritz in the Basque country. In 2009, he returned to work at Clarklewis, a restaurant in Southeast Portland with French and Italian influences where he eventually became executive chef. At Bluehour, chef Koo introduces a menu of ingredient-driven dishes that celebrate the bounty of the Pacific Northwest, like handmade orzo with Amarillo ros peppers, heirloom tomatoes, pine nuts, and parmesan, and crispy surf smelt with chrysanthemum emulsion and fried peanuts. In addition to the à la carte menu is the introduction of a five-course tasting menu that will change with the seasons.